Chapter 1 - Birthday Present
Leela sat there, in the casino, drinking yet another glass of whiskey, to add to the line of other empty glasses sitting there in front of her at the bar. She had long passed tipsy, and was now quite drunk, feeling as if her head was spinning round and round... like a baseball being whacked hard, the moment it made contact with the bat of a great homer-scoring player.
She grabbed hold of her glass, and pushing her head back abruptly, hurled it down her throat. "I want another one... right now!" She screamed aggressively to the bartender.
"Don't you think you've had enough, Miss?"
"I'll tell you when I've had enough!"
She began to cry, as she sat there alone, lonely and very upset. Fry had promised to take her out tonight, for a quiet romantic dinner and a special birthday drink, though she should have known better than to think he'd changed... even for just one night, her thirty-third birthday!
When they were first married, five years ago, they built a small home together, used to have a fantastic sex-life, and, just over six months ago, they even had a little baby girl, Alison. She had two eyes, just like Fry, and a little dinky nose to go with them, in fact, the only way she could be recognized as Leela's child, was by the thick head of purple hair, covering her tiny pink head.
Hermes and LaBarbara had kindly offered to take care of Alison tonight, so that Fry could take Leela out to have the so-called great time.
But, Leela was totally depressed, as the sweet, emotional man she'd married had changed quite a lot over five years. For a start, nowadays, she didn't just have to play mother to Alison, but to the mindless brat, too. In fact, she was miserable most nights, for he'd ruined both the lives of Alison and herself completely. He'd spent their entire life savings - a good sum of money, which amounted to nearly fifty thousand dollars - and he was still spending! He'd flimsily just thrown his money away on excessive drinking, playing naughty games with other women, and entertaining himself by gambling his life away with Bender, on the various casino games on offer in New New York, and beyond.
She, miserably, spilled her woes out to the one and only sympathetic ear who seemed to be listening to her: the bartender. "You know, he used to be so wonderful, so caring. He had some sort of childlike quality that made me want to wrap him in my arms and cuddle up close to him, to willingly mother him wholeheartedly, and finally, always to take care of him... then that giant tin can had to interfere; to interrupt our entire, loving, relationship. The two of them began to feed off each other, trying to outdo one another. Of course, this became extravagant. Spend! Spend! Spend!" She gestured wildly, emphasizing that point, then continued to ramble on. "I suppose I was just a fool to believe that he would possibly grow out of it over time, I even had doubts when I married him. I suppose I knew he was attached to Bender even then, but they were never this close. I wonder sometimes if he has a clue of what I'm feeling or going through, or even has ever stopped, for just one moment, to spare a thought for me or Alison."
The bartender could see that she seemed to be in deep distress, so he gave her the most reassuring advice he could think of: "I'm sure he thinks about you all the time; he must have loved you, to have chosen you for his bride. Some men just have a lot of trouble expressing their love, that's all."
Knowing Fry, Leela didn't believe a word of it. Even if it were true, he had a very thoughtless way of showing anything and everything. In fact, he used to get his buzz out of committing impulsive, immature activities.
While she sat there, drinking away her sorrows, she just happened to notice, out of the corner of her eye, another customer also drowning his problems with more than several alcoholic drinks; a handsome member of the male species. Sitting there, he looked like a celebrity head-in-a-jar she'd once seen, and thought his name was Humphrey Bogart. In fact, he didn't just look like this celebrity head, he also had the accent to match. "Can I buy ya a drink lady...? I'm celebrating my very first wedding anniversary... alone."
Leela remembered after her first anniversary, how she was still very much in love with Fry, how their love was still growing, even during the strains of life together. After sitting there for a while, wondering how a woman could fall out of love with someone she'd married only a year before, her question was soon answered.
"Ya see that big busted, blonde bimbo... the one that's perched herself next ta that redhead jerk at the roulette wheel, who's just about ta lose yet another thousand bucks on the lucky seven... well that bimbo is my woman."
As the two of them watched Fry losing yet another thousand dollars on the roulette wheel, for the first time all day, Leela could still manage a birthday smile. "You see that redhead jerk, who's perched right next to that big busted bimbo, the one that's just lost yet another thousand dollars on the lucky seven... well that jerk is my dimbo man." They both chuckled together, finding an immediate mutual, magnetic bond between them... also fuelled by their state of intoxication.
Even though they were both drunk, they just about managed to converse about varying subjects, finding that they had a lot in common in their lives, as well as their interests. They sat and talked, listening and laughing at the other's situations... finding that they seemed to be clicking, finding something common within.
As they took to each other so easily, this bond of affection increased, as they began to feel the need to nurse each other's broken heart. "Let me take ya somewhere else," he proposed. "Somewhere more quiet, just my little purple haired lady and me."
"What about your wife?" Leela enquired, feeling tempted by the proposal, although not able, herself, to forget her own other half of the equation.
He laughed, "Who, Carol? He-he-he that's really funny lady, my woman hardly ever notices when I'm around... she's hardly gonna notice when I'm gone."
While Fry was gambling away all the money he should have spent on her birthday treat, the intoxicated cyclops began to let this strange attraction overcome her; she dropped all barriers against his sexual advances. Although she didn't set out with a burning desire that she would enjoy her birthday that night... she was about to embark on one of the most fulfilling journeys of her life.
Her birthday present began as soon as the two of them left the casino in the pouring rain. They linked arms and began to sing and dance merrily, blurting out noises resembling Singing in the Rain, while they hopped, skipped and jumped into the puddles down the street, just to make them go splishing and splashing.
Leela awoke in a plush hotel bedroom, facing a large window. Her hangover, from the night before's drinking binge, seemed to just keep on getting worse from the pelting rain punching against the window. She lay there naked, now sober, wondering how she got there; but she simply couldn't remember a thing about it. She was normally a very responsible person, and didn't understand how something like this could have happened to her.
She then heard somebody twisting and turning behind her. Terrified, Leela became almost paralysed, as she wondered who it could possibly be. "Could it be an alien, an elderly gentleman, or even another woman... ewww!" she worried to herself, fearing what her drunken state had led her to. She also began to think about whether this mystery date had given her a lustful, passionate, sex night, or just two minutes in the sheets. As she noticed that she was all hot and sweaty, and the weather outside seemed to be extremely cold and raining, she gathered that she must have had a steamy sex night.
"Oh f**k... what the f**k are ya doing in my bed, lady?" he screamed in shock, at seeing her for the first time in the bed with him.
She sat up like lightning, pulling the sheets up over her naked body. She tried desperately to remember even just a hint of what might have happened, but her brain wasn't giving anything away.
She waited until he had calmed down from his shock, then she gave her excuse: "I don't know how on earth I got here, but I should've been enjoying my birthday treat with my husband... Fry." She shyly tried to avoid staring into his hypnotic brown eyes, and awaited his reaction.
"I'm married too, lady," he replied, in a very embarrassed tone. "I'm sorry I swore at ya earlier, it was just the shock of finding myself in bed with another woman. I'm really no Romeo, ya know, despite what we may, or may not, have done earlier. Besides, I should be celebrating my first anniversary with my wife... Carol."
"Well, I suppose I ought to at least be happy that you're shocked that I'm another woman, and not because I only have... one eye. Most people I meet for the first time are usually very shocked by it."
"But, why Miss? It's such a beautiful shade of greeny-blue. Why, it enhances the colour of your hair. Altogether, the entire effect is breathtaking!"
"Mmm... I bet you say that kind of thing to all the girls, so I'm gonna get back to our original conversation. Now, I have no recollection of our little affair, so as far as I'm concerned, it was a huge misunderstanding, and I'm very sorry if anything happened between us."
"Well, since I don't remember much about it either, I suggest it would be sensible if we both just forgot the entire situation, and went back to our spouses this morning," he suggested.
"I think that's a good idea!" Leela agreed, as they both got dressed under the sheets, getting ready to go back to their normal lives.